In this work, three phosphonamide flame retardants with different chain segment structures (PPP, PPDA, EDP) were designed and synthesized, and efficient flame-retardant TPU systems were obtained by comparing the flame-retardant effects of three phosphonamide flame retardants in TPU. First, it was found that phosphonamide flame retardants containing p-phenylenediamine groups in the chain segment structure had better flame retardant effects than those containing piperazine groups. This was reflected in the experiment that the TPU/9%PPP only achieved UL 94 V-2 rating, but TPU/9%PPDA successfully passed the V-0 test. Then, EDP was obtained by further replacing the phenyl in PPDA with ethoxy and p-phenylenediamine group retained, which had the highest flame-retardant efficiency among all phosphonamide flame retardants. Its limited oxygen index (LOI) value exceeded 30 %, higher than that of TPU/9%PPDA (27.8 %), and achieved anti-melt dripping during UL-94 test. The LOI value of TPU/9%EDP was increased by 36 %, while the peak heat release rate and total heat release were significantly reduced by 77 % and 52 %, respectively, compared with pure TPU. Based on the analysis of char residue, EDP formed a protective char layer at the earliest time, playing a barrier protection role. This work provides a pathway for efficient flame retardant TPU. Also, the design idea of phosphonamide flame retardants is a useful reference for the preparation of multifunctional flame retardants.